It is known to employ partitions or shields in automobiles to prevent persons occupying the rear seat of the vehicle from unauthorized access to the front seat. Such systems are universally employed in police vehicles and also widely employed in taxicabs. When employed in police vehicles, such security shields prevent prisoners being transported in the police vehicle from interfering with the operation of the vehicle or from attacking the police officer or officers in the front seat of the vehicle. When employed in taxis, such security shields typically serve as a theft deterrent, protecting the taxicab driver from theft of cash received from previous fares.
A typical security shield of this type is designed to fit behind the front seat of the vehicle. Such a security shield will typically extend substantially the entire width of the vehicle from the roof of the vehicle to a point below the front seat back. Depending upon the construction of the vehicle, and in particular whether the vehicle includes a front bench seat or front bucket seats, such security shields must extend differing distances down from the roof of the vehicle. In addition the security shield must be sufficiently secured to the vehicle to prevent its removal or displacement by a determined assailant. Typically the upper portion of such security shields will have one or more transparent or semitransparent panels. This could be either a fixed transparent sheet, a transparent sheet in more than one section including one section which may slide to permit access, or may include a wire mesh. The purpose of these transparent panels in accordance with the prior art is to permit visibility from the front seat of the vehicle into the rear seat, without seriously compromising security.
The security shields of the prior art typically include a central shield section supported by a pair of legs on either side of the vehicle. In the typical installation, a right angle mounting bracket must be bolted to the floor to accommodate the leg of the security shield. This right angle mounting bracket typically mounts between the lateral frame member and the bottom of the floor well. This mounting bracket is typically installed by drilling a first set of holes horizontally into the lateral frame member and a second set of holes in the floor pan of the vehicle and securing the right angle mounting bracket via large lag bolts. It is typical to accommodate a standard size shield body to a number of differing vehicle models by a series of adapters. A height adaptor selected from a set of height adapters is inserted between the mounting bracket and the leg of the shield to accommodate the varying heights from the floor to ceiling of differing vehicle models. It is also typical to mount varying sizes of side members to the legs of the shield to adjust for the differing interior widths of various vehicle models.
The prior art construction technique for accommodating the standard security shield to a variety of vehicle models involves several problems. Firstly, the mounting of the right angle mounting bracket has several disadvantages. As noted above, this right angle mounting bracket is typically mounted via large lag bolts into holes drilled into the vehicle. The drilling of such holes is a hazardous operation. Typically this drilling will occur into the lateral frame member of the vehicle and in the floor pan of the vehicle. In many such vehicles a large electrical cable is encompassed in the lateral frame member. This is particularly true in the case of police vehicles which involve a much greater variety of electrical equipment than other vehicles. The drilling of the holes into this lateral frame member involves a risk of damage to this cable assembly. Because of the large number of wires included in such a cable assembly, it is a very tedious and difficult operation to repair such a cable. The drilling of holes in the vehicle frame and footwell is a further risk due to the proximity of the exhaust system. Holes that violate the vehicle integrity are liable to permit untreated exhaust gas to enter the passenger compartment of the vehicle putting the passengers and police officers at risk. In addition, it may be necessary to replace portions of the vehicle sheet metal damaged by this drilling process. It is known that a damaged or faulty catalytic converter will produce lethal gases capable of penetrating the vehicle interior should any holes be produced in the bottom sheet metal.
In addition to the possibility of accidental extraordinary damage to the vehicle as noted above, this mounting system also necessarily involves a degree of damage to the vehicle. In the typical police vehicle fleet operation, police vehicles are employed for several years and then retired from service. Upon retirement from police service, these vehicles are sold on the used car market to recover some of the initial cost of purchase. The specialized police equipment, including the security shield is removed from each vehicle upon retirement from police service. Even so, the damage to the vehicle necessitated by the prior art installation of the security shield reduces the resale value of the vehicle. This reduction in resale value increases the cost of fleet operation.
The prior art system for mounting security shields in vehicles also involve s a further disadvantage. As noted above, the installation typically requires the use of assorted adapters to accommodate the varying dimensions of differing vehicle models. It is typical for a single police fleet to employ more than one vehicle model and therefore require differing adapters for these differing vehicle models. Because the typical large police fleet will be constantly retiring and replacing vehicles, the management of the installation of the security shields requires an inventory of various adapters for the differing vehicle models in the police fleet. Additional expense is required to store and maintain such a variety of adapters and there remains the risk that the proper adaptor may not be on hand when a security shield installation is required. Thus this type of mounting system requires a relatively large expenditure of labor.
There is therefore a need in the art to provide a security shield for vehicles which is easy to install, easy to remOve, which does not require the extensive use of adapters for particular models of the vehicle and which provides a minimum amount of damage to the vehicle.